Ariel Castro-inspired bill passes through Ohio House

The Ohio House of Representatives passed a bill inspired by Ariel Castro's child with kidnapping and rape survivor Amanda Berry on Wednesday.Tony Dejak, AP

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A bill inspired by Cleveland's Ariel Castro and passed
unanimously Wednesday in the Ohio House of Representatives would prevent men from suing for parental rights to children fathered as a result of rape or sexual battery.

Rep. Nickie Antonio, a Lakewood Democrat and one of the bill's sponsors, said she was stunned to learn that “rapists can enjoy
the rights of the father” under state law, adding that Ohio is one of 31 states
without such protection for rape survivors.

Some of the
restrictions spelled out in the bill, co-sponsored by Rep. Kirk Schuring, R-Canton, would inhibit parental rights such as
inheritance and consent to adoption for those men who plead guilty or are
convicted of rape or sexual battery.

Rep. Nicholas
Celebrezze, D-Parma voiced his support for the bill, contending that Antonio and
Schuring weeded out possible “unintended consequences” of the bill.

“After these
convictions, these individuals will still have to pay child support and that’s a
very very important thing,” Celebrezze said.

The bill has the backing of NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio, a women's rights group whose
policy director, Jaime Miracle, called parental rights “one of the most
critical areas where [a rape survivor] deserves to be making the decisions
without anyone else.”

Miracle said
she’d like to see even more legal protection for rape survivors in the future,
but called the initiative “a really good first step.”

Sam Howard is a fellow in Ohio University’s
E.W. Scripps School of Journalism Statehouse News Bureau. Follow him on Twitter @SamuelHHoward.